And his name was Neoguri. He blew into town on Saturday and made a huge mess. But when he left, he took all the pollution with him, and left – according to the guys at AJ Hackett at the Macau Tower – “the clearest sky we’ve seen in a long time”.

I asked my best friend Google where the name Neoguri originated from. But all I found out is that Neoguri is the name of a rather famous brand of instant ramen.

I’d have to say that I like packet Neoguri with soup. But when it comes to Typhoons, I’d rather the dry variety

 When I went to work on Friday, I did regret wearing a dress, what with the swirling winds threatening to make me commit indecent exposure. But by Saturday morning, the warning signal was already at 3. At that point in time, it was impossible to get a cab. So a group of us hopped on bus 10 to StarWorld Casino, where we had booked brunch at Temptations restaurant on the 16^th floor.

The buffet, as always, was amazing value at only MOP128 and a 10% discount with Visa payments. There were truckloads of sashimi, which were more chunk-like than slices, a fresh wood-fire pizza station, and counter serving up laksa and mini burgers with bacon. The salad selection was also impressive, as was the 2 dessert counters.

No, we ate more than just greens. But the salad selection was impressive - roasted eggplant, cold mushrooms, grilled vegetables…

The mini burger with bacon. Mmmmm

Fresh pizza anyone?

There was 1 white chocolate fountain, 1 milk chocolate fountain, as well as a fresh crepe station with Haagen-Dazs. I went to town with the Belgian chocolate, (it had real chocolate inside!) but found pistachio a little strange. I dumped some into my soya sauce and tried to pass it off as wasabi to a friend. No, he didn’t fall for it.I had 3 journalist friends from Singapore in town, and the plan was, after stuffing ourselves silly – to go and get some outdoor exercise in the form of War Games at Fisherman’s Wharf (similar to paintball, but using pellets) and with a spot of go-karting in Coloane. The go-karting in Macau, by the way, is amazing value for money, considering it’s a fraction of the price of what you’d pay in European countries. And the track is challenging and long enough to make you feel like a real speed racer.

It’s only blurry cos I’m going so fastNow, if only they could teach the mechanics to smile just a little more – I’d be tempted to invest in my own kart. But anyway, I digress.

No chance for karting. By 3pm, the warning signal had been hoisted to level 8, so what were we to do, but keep eating. It was a good choice, because later I find out that Neoguri was so strong he actually blew away our Macau.com billboard. Now that is one big billboard, so imagine what he could do to us mere people.

Finally, when the rain and winds showed no signs of dissipating, we made our way to the casino levels, where we split up and hit the slot machines and Blackjack tables.

All of us are not really gamblers, but I now understand how addictive it can be. I’m a brave girl, I ride motorbikes in Malaysia, backpack around Thailand alone, and eat RMB1 meals in back alleys of Shanghai, but until now, I hadn’t dared to sit at a table and gamble.After watching my friends double, then triple their money, I finally built up the courage to take a seat next to them, and learnt how to signal Hit and Stay, and yes, even Split.

I even felt pretty smug when I realized one lady nearby couldn’t count, and required the croupier to tally up the numbers before making her decisions to Hit or Stay.

However, I knew I was in trouble when I had emptied my wallet and pockets of cash, and was asking each of my friends for a loan. After a 1 hour winning streak (including 3 Blackjacks in a row!) I was spent 2 hours at the same table on a losing streak. I had a feeling that the croupier actually felt sorry for me when he sighed, when he pulled a Blackjack or I busted time and time again. He actually made what I thought were some encouraging remarks, although as a non-Cantonese speaker, I couldn’t be sure.

When he finally whispered English – change tables – I took his advice and fled with the few chips I had left (to the opposite table). Later I find out he’d been telling me the same thing in Cantonese for the past hour. Time to improve those Cantonese skills.

The next table wasn’t  my friend either, so we headed upstairs to catch the Thai lady boys perform. Direct from Thailand, they were gorgeous, and I have my doubts to whether the mesmerized middle aged guys watching with open mouths knew of their actual original orientation. I still prefer the Glamour Girls at Sand’s however.   They look like they could be dancers for Justin Timberlake’s live performances any day – and guys, as an added bonus, they perform in g-strings.

We were planning to head to Lion’s Bar, simply because it’s the one place I could think of where the women are just as rowdy as the men and nobody bats an eyelid. The new band – The Freddie James Project from Canada have 2 pretty talented singers – plus a drummer that looks exactly like Owen Wilson (although you’ll have to wait till in between songs to have a look, otherwise he’s always head banging). It’s unfortunate that Freddie James fancies himself as a bit of a stand-up comedian however. His singing is a much better crowd pleaser than his toilet-humor.

One request Freddie? Hold the cheese.

And less talk, more rock!

Trying to get some food just after a Typhoon warning 8 is no easy task. On a Saturday evening, when Senado Square is usually a mass of bodies, it was a virtual ghost town. Even Watsons was closed – although I give Starbucks credit for still sticking around to serve up lattes. There were a few stores open selling beef jerky, and the sales women eyed us up like we were their first customers all week. It’s quite unnerving to see them charging towards you, brandishing sharp scissors and bright red slices of meat. Our plans for the night came to an anticlimax when we returned back to my flat to find the living room flooded.

Neoguri – he robbed us and then left us ankle deep in hot water.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 24th, 2008 at 8:37 pm and is filed under Gossip. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.